My first mod a decade ago

CrazyLefty

Weaksauce
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
75
OK So I was able to scrounge up some old pics from the first case mod that my wife and I did.

One major requirement for this case: It needed to be portable. Our house was a frequent LAN party destination, and we liked going to LAN parties as well. Space in our apartment at the time was limited, so we needed something that wasn't going to take up a lot of space, and could be easily transported.

I don't have many work in progress pics, just a lot of final pics. This was back before digital cameras took off, so pictures weren't as easy and cheap to snap, then you needed a scanner and such, what a mess.

rtPZGXNl.jpg

Here's the back of the case, its tough to see, but I modded the PSU so that it's power plug came out the bottom of the PSU.
This was so I could plug it into the UPS that was inside the case! It never fails that when you are having a LAN party, the power is going to go out. I made sure that I always had my PC up and running. One of the momentary switches on the back of the case was wired to the on/off switch on the UPS, so we could shut it off for transport, but on more than one occaision on short trips, we just left it on and listened to that annoying little beep as we drove to the destination. Loved getting out of the car with a fully powered-on PC!

You can see the VGA cable snaking back into the case. Why you ask?

kxzNvwYl.jpg


For the Monitor mounted to the side of it, of course!
This Samsung SyncMaster was a beautiful monitor. Not only did it have a VGA connector, it also had a built-in TV tuner, SVGA inputs, RCA (Red,Yellow,White) inputs, had picture-in-picture, and a remote! I loved this little monitor!
I mounted it to the side where you would normally (at that time, these is before any variation of ATX form factors were around) as all the wiring running to it was too bulky to fit behind the motherboard tray, very minimal clearance on that side.
I don't have pics of it, but the back of the case had RCA and SVGA ports fitted into a PCI slot cover, so we could bring game stations along and plug them into the back of the PC, then switch the input and get some console gaming going!
The wireless KB/Mouse receiver was mounted to the outside with velcro. Look at that beast compared to the super-micro receivers around today!


zF1OyBnl.jpg


Here's a different angle.
 
Last edited:
My wife loves fairies.
Our wedding had fairies.
She's got fairy tattoos.
She found this neat car window sticker of a kneeling fairy, so we decided to use that as the design of the window cut.

GNtTZKEl.jpg


This is a negative of the scan in 1-bit color, so we could then trace that, backwards, to the backside of the masked off case panel. This was my first dremel attempt, and I think it came out not too bad. I tried using a jigsaw but one of the thinner cuts vibrated the thin aluminum til it sheared. So I used the dremel. Took a good chunk of time, but came out really well.
The pieces that would be left floating (her left arm in the picture, the cut-out next to that, right leg, etc) were glued in place to the plexi backing, so I didn't have to do any cuts that would keep them connected.

I then drilled holes in the side panel and wired in a series of four blue LEDs, wired to a circuit that would randomly twinkle the LEDs to give it a nighttime starry sky look. The back of the motherboard tray was painted blue, so when looking inside through the acrylic (literally right up against the backside of the motherboard tray) it glowed blue. We added blue cold cathodes to the case so blue light leaked around the fairy.

JCOrmuzl.jpg


5PN31upl.jpg


M5VJgx1l.jpg
 
This mod I really loved!
My wife has "Princess" tattoo'd on her shoulder in a script font. We traced that to use as a template for our next mod.
The front of the case had these smoked black semi-opaque covers over the beige bay covers. We removed the black plastic cover, and using the router attachment on the dremel, routed out her tattoo on the bay cover. This was tricky, the router blade has to spin fast enough to cut, but slow enough to not generate too much heat to melt the plastic, at the same time keeping a nice speed through the entire cut, which was a very intricate pattern in a very small space.
Worked out well though!
We replaced the smoked black cover, and fitted a 4" purple cold-cathode tube behind it, and sealed it with aluminum foil and duct tape so all the light would shine through the cut in the bay cover.

1ZL72bSl.jpg

EYxuikcl.jpg

c6NeAMql.jpg


I even ghosted the CD drive. The cover was attached with velcro, so that it was able to rock slightly, to hit the eject button.
 
Some crafty stuff. :D

I totally had that same cheap Chinese case (painted black too!) and put a Mac B&W G3 in it sometime around 2003. The main reason I did that was that I needed more optical drives (the B&W only supported one) and more space for hard drives.
 
AMD processor, I think this one was an 1100
320GB SATA HDD, one of the first models available with a SATA connection! No more big ugly data cables, and hello SATA speed goodness!
2GB DDR memory, I got a purple Mushkin kit that fit beautifully with the color scheme, but with the monitor mounted to the side panel, there wasn't a lot of time spent with this cover off.
Swiftech CPU cooler, Big copper slug for a baseplate, with tons of hexagonal rods with an 80MM fan on top.
Uninterruptible power supply mounted inside the case, held in with an acrylic mount, which let me mount an additional 4x 80MM fans, in addition the the four mounted the the front intake of the case.
Asus motherboard
Geforce 4400, with a custom made bracket to suspend an 80MM fan over the back of the card, and an aftermarket heatsink/fan on the card itself.
8-port switch that was plugged into the UPS, and mounted in a PCI slot. The space between the slots was just big enough to get ethernet in and out, so i stripped the casing off of a switch, and mounted it in plastic as well. This case had everything, and the kitchen sink!
Enermax PSU with a variable speed fan
Samsung SyncMaster 15" LCD

This thing was SO heavy though! With a battery inside, it was a real bear to drag around, but it was definitely a head turner!
 
My wife loves fairies.
Our
wedding dresses had fairies.
She's got fairy tattoos.
She found this neat car window sticker of a kneeling fairy, so we decided to use that as the design of the window cut.

GNtTZKEl.jpg


This is a negative of the scan in 1-bit color, so we could then trace that, backwards, to the backside of the masked off case panel. This was my first dremel attempt, and I think it came out not too bad. I tried using a jigsaw but one of the thinner cuts vibrated the thin aluminum til it sheared. So I used the dremel. Took a good chunk of time, but came out really well.
The pieces that would be left floating (her left arm in the picture, the cut-out next to that, right leg, etc) were glued in place to the plexi backing, so I didn't have to do any cuts that would keep them connected.

I then drilled holes in the side panel and wired in a series of four blue LEDs, wired to a circuit that would randomly twinkle the LEDs to give it a nighttime starry sky look. The back of the motherboard tray was painted blue, so when looking inside through the acrylic (literally right up against the backside of the motherboard tray) it glowed blue. We added blue cold cathodes to the case so blue light leaked around the fairy.
Even My wife love fairies tatoos. I am just trying to explain her she look beautiful without these skin diagrams. But I think she will get one very soon :)
 
Last edited:
Ah but tattoos are beautiful too! (says the person with over 30 hours of said tattoo work) ;)
 
Back
Top